210 teams joined the CEV Youth Summer Beach Festival held over three days at Sandbanks Beach, England

Sandbanks, England, July 9, 2013 – The Sandbanks CEV Beach Volleyball Festival hosted 210 teams over 3 days for a fantastic weekend of Beach Volleyball. Teams from all over England and some from Europe made the journey to Sandbanks Beach in Poole.

Geoff Allen, Tournament Director, said: “We were especially delighted to welcome back 12 junior teams from Landstede Volleyball in Zwolle, Holland. The tournament is fast becoming their favourite event on the summer beach tour calendar.” 48 teams competed in the English South-West Schools Championships organised by former FIVB World Tour player Denise Austin on Friday.

Come the Saturday morning, there was a blue sky, no breeze and rising temperatures. Following a group warm-up by Fitness First which filled the promenade with players, volunteers and even some passers by joining in the fun, play kicked off at 9.30am on Saturday morning with players of all ages showing off their growing talent and excellent skills on court. The fantastic performances by the young athletes continued throughout the weekend attracting lots of interest from the general public who stayed and watched to find out more about the sport of Beach Volleyball.

Breaks in play on centre court were filled with games aimed at getting people involved in Beach Volleyball, such as serving the ball into a bucket and a rally with a giant MIKASA Beach ball! The tournament was also visited by 3 local Olympians, Dan Hunter (Team GB Men), Lucy wicks (Team GB Women) and Ben Pipes (Team GB Men’s Captain) who were on hand to answer questions, sign autographs and have photographs with the young budding Olympians.

Chairman of Wessex Volleyball Club, Geoff Allen added: “When the weather is so good, everyone enjoys their Beach Volleyball. But there is a lot of planning and hard work that goes into making an event like this run smoothly and a massive thank you is due to the group of Wessex player’s parents who give their time so freely. We were honoured that the CEV chose to support our event here in Sandbanks this year. Hopefully, this will show Europe that such support can bring great results.”